Linear transformations and filters for electronic signals are commonly employed in communications and signal processing systems. The signal processing time required for implementing these functions using standard computer hardware is often unacceptable. Special purpose hardware permits real-time processing.
A correlation circuit is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,602. This processor is used in combination with an optical input and performs a linear transformation upon the signal input through the signals derived from the optical input.
Another system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,456 in which an optical sensing array and another storage array is used. The proposed application for the device described in this patent is used as a charge transfer image device.
The present invention uses an integrated circuit array with registers thereon, one set of which is programmable and permits real-time implementation of digital digital signals processing.